Walpole Isabel B, Smith Alyssa A, Rudy Kaylyn G, Jeon Dayeon, Innis Sarah M, Richert Brian T, Radcliffe J Scott, Pasternak J Alex
Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA.
Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508, USA.
Transl Anim Sci. 2025 Jul 22;9:txaf100. doi: 10.1093/tas/txaf100. eCollection 2025.
Transportation at weaning is an integral component of the American swine industry. However, the long-term effects on growth performance have not been well characterized. Previous research suggests transportation causes weight loss immediately following weaning, but few studies have followed this effect further than 7 d post-weaning, with transport causing decreased body weight in those that have. In experiment 1, average weight pigs at 20 ± 1.3 d of age were weaned and either 1) transported for 9 hour without feed and water (TR), 2) had their feed and water restricted for 9 hour (FR), or 3) were weaned and provided immediate access to feed and water (WN). Subsequent weight gain was tracked to market. No differences in body weight (BW) or average daily gain (ADG) were observed among treatment groups. In experiment 2, low (LBW), average (ABW), and high body weight (HBW) pigs at 20.7 ± 1.2 d of age were weaned and either transported for 9 hour (TR) or weaned without transport (WN) and placed in a nursery with access to feed and water to determine if the response to weaning and transport stressors was influenced by weaning weight. While TR pigs regardless of weight class did lose a larger percentage of their weight after 9 hour (P < 0.001), by 7 d post-weaning that effect had disappeared (P > 0.10). The BW gap between ABW and HBW pigs as a proportion of BW decreased with age, but LBW pigs remained lighter than the other two weight classes (P < 0.01). Additionally, ADG was lower in the nursery period (P < 0.05) and tended to be lower in the grow-finish period (P = 0.062) for LBW pigs at weaning, causing them to continue to fall behind their larger counterparts. While this research found no effect of transportation on long-term growth, it suggests that weaning weight is a meaningful predictor of future body weight in the grow-finish phase.
断奶时的运输是美国养猪业不可或缺的一部分。然而，其对生长性能的长期影响尚未得到充分描述。先前的研究表明，运输会在断奶后立即导致体重减轻，但很少有研究在断奶后7天以上追踪这种影响，即便有研究进行了追踪，运输也会导致猪体重下降。在实验1中，20±1.3日龄的平均体重仔猪断奶后，要么1）在无水无食的情况下运输9小时（TR），2）其饲料和水被限制9小时（FR），要么3）断奶后立即提供饲料和水（WN）。随后追踪体重增加直至上市。各处理组之间未观察到体重（BW）或平均日增重（ADG）的差异。在实验2中，20.7±1.2日龄的低体重（LBW）、平均体重（ABW）和高体重（HBW）仔猪断奶后，要么运输9小时（TR），要么断奶后不运输（WN），并放置在可获取饲料和水的保育舍中，以确定断奶和运输应激源的反应是否受断奶体重影响。尽管无论体重类别如何，运输9小时后的TR组仔猪体重损失百分比更大（P<0.001），但到断奶后7天，这种影响已消失（P>0.10）。ABW和HBW仔猪之间的体重差距占体重的比例随年龄增长而减小，但LBW仔猪仍比其他两个体重类别轻（P<0.01）。此外，断奶时LBW仔猪在保育期的ADG较低（P<0.
